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Today's Opinions

Many Americans don’t think of human trafficking as a problem in our country. The sale of children for sex sounds like something that could only happen in faraway places, but tragically it is happening right here in the United States every single day. Virginia is no exception. According to the FBI, sex trafficking is the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world. Sadly, this immoral and criminal industry is also a profitable one. It’s estimated that child sex trafficking in the United States alone is a $9.8 billion industry.

This is no time for more delays.
The issue of building a new middle school has been on the table for years, and after the reversion of the city of Bedford to a town, it took center stage.
Originally, the Bedford County School Board had hoped to have a new school completed to open for the 2016-2017 school year.

It’s budget time again and all our local governing bodies are about to begin wrestling with the budget bear. It can be a tough time because they often have to begin working before they know what the General Assembly is going to do to them.

It’s always a pleasure to watch and listen to this particular president give a major speech or formal address.
Barack Obama’s soaring rhetorical abilities can’t be matched by anyone else in politics today. His ability to speak reflects what even his critics know to be his deep intellect.

Over the years Supervisor Steve Arrington has been a strong advocate for maintaining our low property tax rate here in Bedford County and has actively acted on his beliefs, even to the point of participating in the censure of his fellow Republican supervisors who voted for a tax increase.

This week marked the first full week of the 2015 General Assembly session, with bills being debated in committees and on the floor of the Senate. Short sessions, like the one this year, tend to move a little more briskly in order to handle the volume of legislation in just 45 days. And, there’s a lot of legislation to consider.

We’ve finished our first full week of the 2015 General Assembly session and I’m happy to report that things are quickly progressing forward. Our committees and subcommittees are meeting to consider thousands of pieces of legislation, and I speak with constituents daily as they stop by my office and/or call me to share their views.